The Gundam Return: "The Series"
by Inaudito
Summary: The beginning of the journer of six teens into the future foretold by the past.
1. Reflections

The year is AC 297, 100 years since the death of Dekim Barton and the removal of all militaristic weapons, including the Gundams piloted by Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, and Quatre Winner.  
  
The five pilots settled down and lived as normal a life as possible. They all had children who had children who had children. Now, the great- grandchildren of Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei live their lives in the L5 colony X87321.  
  
Relena made sure that no weapons were ever constructed and the peace remained. It has been that way for almost 100 years, though she died at the age of seventy-two.  
  
But now, people who believe in what Treize had said himself, that it is in the human conscience to fight, are reappearing. And in the colony X87321, they have gathered…  
  
***************  
  
Andrew stood silently beside the rusted statue of the original Gundam pilots. He was waiting for the others. Ric and Naomi came next. "You're later than usual," Andrew said flatly to the descendants of Duo.  
  
"Give us a break. Dad wouldn't us go until we had eaten lunch," Ric said.  
  
"Yeah, and what about the others?" Naomi asked. "They're later than we are."  
  
Andrew shook his head. "No. They've been here for an hour. They ran off to get lunch. Said they'd be back shortly."  
  
Just then, the other three ran up. The longhaired descendant of Trowa, Trent, was carrying two hamburgers. Quatre's descendant, Rahmet, carried the drinks. Wufei's great-grandchild Akia carried some bags full of food. "Eat up, you guys," Rahmet said. Trent handed Andrew one of the hamburgers.  
  
Andrew was a short man with spiky brown hair. Some say he was Heero reincarnated. Andrew, however, was more talkative than Heero had been. Andrew was seventeen and had green eyes. He was tall. He was strong, but not muscular. He was extremely intelligent, to the point of genius some dare say.  
  
Trent's golden hair was styled exactly like his ancestor Trowa's. His eyes had the same look in them. Trent was Andrew's age, 17. Trent stood about two inches shy of six feet. Although one could not tell it when Trent wore long clothes, he was muscular.  
  
Chang Akia, just Akia to her friends, was 17 as well. She had long, blonde hair, unlike Wufei's short black hair. She dressed much like Wufei did, the white jacket and pants, the black shoes. She wore a black tank top under the jacket. On the left side of the jacket, a golden dragon was embroidered, symbolizing the hero Nataku.  
  
Rahmet, who was 16, had short, curly blonde hair. He always carried a pair of goggles with him, as they were said to be Quatre's. Rahmet dressed somewhere between casual and fancy. He wore blue jeans and tennis shoes, but he also wore a nice, long-sleeve white shirt under a blue vest with gold buttons.  
  
Ric and Naomi were identical in almost every way to Duo. Both were light- hearted and funny with brown hair and dark eyes. Each stood about five feet tall and was fond of mobile suits. The two did not dress like ministers, however, since they had not been through the hells that Duo had. Instead, the twins dressed like most other teens. Jeans, tennis shoes, and brand name T-shirts were the norm.  
  
"Thanks." They began to eat.  
  
"You heard the news?" Akia said, breaking the still silence.  
  
Andrew's eyes darted for a moment, then went back to his meal.  
  
"Yeah," Rahmet said, "it seems somebody found a mobile suit intact in L5 somewhere."  
  
"So then," Ric began, "will another war start?"  
  
"More like a massacre," Andrew said. "The suit they found was a Gundam. It wasn't completely intact. You remember what the teachers said about the final days of the war. Wing Gundam was blasted by Libra's main cannon, almost destroying it. But never was it said it was completely destroyed.  
  
"Same goes for the Epyon. Great-grandpa sliced off its arm, and then it blew up the bulk of the Libra, but it was never confirmed to be destroyed."  
  
"So…" Trent began.  
  
"So it's about to get hectic," Andrew said, finishing Trent's thought. A breeze from the artificial weather inside the colony ruffled Andrew's hair.  
  
The report had been that a crew working on salvaging parts of a colony ravaged by the White Fang nearly a century earlier. Inside, they found something strange.  
  
The machines had been detecting no metal inside the colony, aside from what it was made of and some Taurus suits that had been blown apart. But upon searching the colony, the crews found something strange.  
  
The color had been warped, though the frame itself remained solid. A green glint shone from the eyes, as though it was watching the crews. Scribbled on part of the thing were the letters "G-ND--," the blanks being letters unknown, though the civilians did not know if that was all or even if the letters had been found in that order.  
  
"So somebody found a Gundam suit?" Akia said.  
  
"Which means somebody will try to put it together and use it," Andrew said. The breeze ruffled his light brown hair.  
  
"But who?" Trent said.  
  
Andrew just shrugged. "I don't know. For once, I don't know."  
  
That was when they felt it. A shiver ran through their bodies. Andrew looked around. "Whoever it was just attacked a colony. My guess is the L1 area."  
  
One of the emergency TVs in the park switched on. A man of about twenty appeared on the screen. He was a newscaster for a well-respected news program. "We have just received an emergency transmission from the colony X43591. They were under attack by an unknown force.  
  
"We have received these video transmissions as well."  
  
The scene switched to the defense unit outside the colony. It consisted of roughly what every other colony had. A few dozen manned suits and a dozen or so Mobile Dolls, all labor suits.  
  
"Unit F, there is a-----"  
  
"Commander! They're everywhere! Send a ship to get us out of here! We need---" The transmissions had been cut short. Anyone could tell why. Something had blown up the suit.  
  
"This is insane! How can this be happening?!!" And then…  
  
"You all die!" The camera switched to show the suit that the transmission had come from…  
  
But it was hidden in dust and smoke. "Rebirth is at hand! Bow to the leaders! Bow to the saviors!"  
  
The audio and video ended there. "We are unaware of the reality of this transmission, but the President of the Earth Sphere United Nation has called a meeting with the leader of each colony." The TVs turned off as abruptly as they turned on.  
  
A man stepped up behind Andrew. He was about six feet tall and had long, silver hair. He was at least thirty-five. "You are Andrew Yuy, Chang Akia, Trent Barton, Ric and Naomi Maxwell, and Rahmet Winner, are you not?"  
  
"That'd be us," Andrew replied. His voice seemed to carry an undertone that carried a threat.  
  
"Now, now. There's no need to be hostile. I have a favor to ask of you. My name is Commander Wicks. We know of your excellent mobile suit piloting skills, and wish your assistance. We need extra defenders for the colony."  
  
Andrew replied flatly, "For you, no way." Andrew stood up. "But for this colony, anything. You guys with me?"  
  
The others nodded in agreement. "Follow me," Wicks said.  
  
Wicks led them through a maze of buildings and walls and rooms. "We must test your abilities. You will be put through simulations."  
  
Upon entering a large room, Wicks pointed to six machines. "Those are the simulators. Each of you will have your own."  
  
The six teens spread out and entered the simulation as Wicks buckled them in. "Lieutenant, activate the sims!"  
  
Suddenly all of them were in a world vastly different. "Akia, watch your tail. Six of 'em. A new model too," Andrew said.  
  
"I got them."  
  
They were in an enclosed space. It was a maze. And somewhere was a minotaur.  
  
"All right. Staying grouped can only work to our disadvantage. Spread out and get out when you feel you have to," Trent said.  
  
Blasting in different directions, the six pilots kept up radio contact. But it was Andrew who noticed it first…  
  
"Guys, these controls are different. They aren't standard. And I feel like I'm acting faster than I can think."  
  
"I know what you mean. But I can't figure it out," Ric said. "Naomi, you're the mech wiz here. What's up?"  
  
"I've seen these controls before. I think it's a Gundam cockpit. And the system…Andrew, you know about it. Heero used it."  
  
"You gotta be kiddin' me," Ric said. "So we're in ZERO Gundams?"  
  
"I think so. But for now, my scanners are pickin' up something," Naomi said. "Trent, above you!"  
  
Dropping from the sky above Trent was a monstrous machine. It stood as tall as Trent's suit. It had haunting green eyes. A yellow emblem stuck out from its forehead. In one arm it carried a machine gun, in the other nothing. Machine guns protruded from just about everywhere on the thing. And strapped to its back was a huge cannon.  
  
Trent began to move his suit back, firing its weapons. They had no effect on the suit. "There's the minotaur!" Trent shouted.  
  
The suit began to return fire. Trent backed up and shielded himself with the arm of the Gundam. As he did that, Andrew smashed into the suit and sent it tumbling to the ground.  
  
"I'll eliminate all obstacles," came a voice.  
  
Andrew guessed it immediately. He pulled the gun off the back of his mobile suit and fired. The enemy suit kicked the barrel of the gun just as it fired, sending the gun careening out of Andrew's hands. Rahmet flew in and provided cover fire, although not for very long. The suit hurled a beam saber at Rahmet, disabling Rahmet's suit completely. Ric and Naomi shouted, telling Andrew they were on their way. Ric appeared first, diverting the enemy's attention. Ric managed to hold off just long enough for Naomi to pick up the gun. "Andrew, catch!" Naomi shouted as she tossed the gun to Andrew.  
  
"Thanks," Andrew said. "This ends here and now." He fired the gun, destroying the enemy suit.  
  
As strangely as it had started, the simulation ended. "You did good, kids. Now, let me show you something."  
  
As they began to walk down a series of twisting corridors and hallways, Andrew could only compare them to the life they would lead if they accepted Wicks' offer. "We had only the basic blueprints of the original Gundams, including Wing Gundam ZERO and the Tallgeese. But from those seven blueprints, we gave birth to six more Gundams."  
  
They stepped into a garage. Sparks flew and the stench of burned metal filled the air. Flashes of bright light from the welding burst into view every few seconds. Mechanics were working on six more suits, all being laced with gundanium alloy.  
  
Wicks stopped in front of one and said, "Andrew, this is yours. To get yours, the Emberglow-Zero, we combined the Heavy Arms Gundam and Wing Gundam. As you can see, Emberglow-Zero has the Heavy Arms' machine gun and missile packs. The color scheme also reflects that of the Heavy Arms. However, it is equipped with Wing Gundam's buster rifle and maneuverability, along with its beam saber, which we upgraded to a plasma saber."  
  
You never built that suit. Those technicians did a good job of lying. Of course, that's what they were hired to do: shroud the truth, Andrew thought.  
  
Wicks walked down the catwalk and said, "Ric and Naomi, these are your two Gundams, Gemini One and Gemini Two. They reflect your great-grandfather's suit, the Deathscythe. However, we upgraded the beam scythes with plasma, as with all beam sabers. To give it a more long range capability, we also installed homing missile packs onto the upper arms."  
  
Continuing on, he introduced Trent to his Gundam. "Trent, this suit would have fit your ancestor perfectly. We made very little modifications to this suit. We mainly added more ammo to the suit and gave it the name Starshot. To give it another touch, we added flame-throwers to the chest plate rather than more machine guns.  
  
"Akia, this suit is called the Firewave, but some of the engineers nicknamed it Hell-Fire. You see, we kept intact your ancestors two flame- throwers, but instead of a simple trident, you have a plasma scythe. The Deathscythe's buster shield was also added."  
  
"In accordance with your pacifist beliefs, Rahmet, we have created the Smolderling. It is equipped with weaponry only strong enough to disable enemy suits. It can, however, change the settings on the weapons so that they can destroy. As you can see, the weapons are short range. They are two modified sickles that contain EMP particles in a magnetic field. However, this can be modified to contain a plasma beam rather than EMP."  
  
"So these are all equipped with the ZERO?" Andrew said.  
  
"Yes. We felt it necessary to equip them with the ZERO system, to give us a chance."  
  
"What could possibly defeat a Gundam?" Trent said.  
  
Rahmet interjected by saying, "Guys, do we really wanna do this? If we take this path, there is no fork in the road later on. All paths have but one."  
  
"Rahmet's right," Andrew said. "We need to figure out if this is really what we wanna do."  
  
"I'll give you time to think about it," Wicks replied. "We're in no hurry to make you do anything." Wicks led the teens to a lounge, then left.  
  
"I don't like that guy," Andrew said, keeping his voice low. "Something about him."  
  
"We all wanna do what's best for the colonies," Rahmet said. "But is this really what's best?"  
  
"Whoever is doing this doesn't seem to really care about the colonies," Akia said. "I think we should get him."  
  
"Yeah, but what good would that do us? He obviously has a ZERO Gundam and an entire faction behind him. Our experience is with simple labor suits, not a tool for massacres," Naomi said.  
  
"I vote we do it," Ric said. "I can't give you a good reason. I care for this colony and all the others. For their sake, I say let's do it."  
  
"I'm with Ric," Trent said.  
  
Everyone turned to look at Andrew. "You're the oldest, Andrew. You've also got the better intellect. We'll follow your decision," Ric said.  
  
Andrew bowed his head, then said, "I say shoot for it. But anyone who leaves now or later on, I won't consider a coward."  
  
"It's a deal," the others agreed. Andrew stood and poured himself a cup of coffee. As he sipped on it, he thought, What have we gotten ourselves into? 


	2. Descent to Freedom

1 Two Weeks Later  
  
Andrew slipped calmly into his Gundam. The others were all beside him. "Launch on my mark," Andrew said. "You know the plan. We'll have to maintain radio silence for a while. You know the duration. I'll clock us and send the message."  
  
"Roger that, Andrew," Wicks replied. "This is CT-Zero-One. Launch in t- minus seven seconds and counting."  
  
Seven seconds later, the Gundams were on their way to Earth, a place none of the six had ever visited.  
  
The plan, called Operation: Meteor, after the original attempt almost a century earlier, followed the original's basic outline.  
  
Simultaneously, the Gundams were to enter the earth's atmosphere and ride the wave course in. They would be contained in a substance that looked like a rock, as to draw any attention away from them. Once on land, the six suits would converge at an underwater base seven miles off the shore of England. Wicks would meet them there.  
  
However, through some medium, an Alliance affiliate caught wind of the plans and spoke to the Alliance leader about this.  
  
The Alliance was the Earth Sphere Unified Nation created so many years ago by Relena Peacecraft and the pilots of the original Gundams. The ESUN has lasted long, but has taken a turn for the worse by beginning to produce weapons.  
  
Now, enter Colonel Thomason, a well-respected aristocrat from Scotland. It was his faction, the Thomason Militaristic Faction, or TMF, that was given the news of the revolutionaries. The TMF was to look out for anything suspicious, but otherwise, the whole thing was regarded as an elaborate hoax.  
  
Thomason's ace pilot Luther McDamison was on patrol when it happened. His shuttle was entering the atmosphere after a civilian shuttle. The instruments caught something to the east. When the men looked, they saw a meteor, and began to trail it closely…  
  
Andrew awoke inside his Gundam's cockpit. He yawned as a detector flashed. "Civilian shuttle…and it's right in my way." He looked off and made some calculations while saying, "We'll commence operation in three minutes."  
  
Andrew looked back at the civilian shuttle. "It's gotta go."  
  
Sitting aboard a shuttle beside her father was Sarah Ingel, a sixteen-year old girl. Her father was from the colonies and was on a personal visit. "Next time, why don't we spend some time together, Father? Just you and me. Some free time perhaps."  
  
"I'm sorry, Sarah. Forgive me."  
  
Sarah looked out her window to see a glowing object not too far from the shuttle. "Father?"  
  
Her father just whispered, "Operation: Meteor…"  
  
"Distance to target is seven-five-two-three. Locked onto the target." A turret appeared from the "rock" that encased the Gundam. As Andrew began to fire, Luther's ship appeared on the screen. "Impossible! They're already onto me! God-damn it!"  
  
Andrew began to take his measures.  
  
"Sir, there's more than one. There's six."  
  
"But we can only catch one, am I right?" the blue-eyed, blue-haired Luther replied. Luther was a prominent figure in the military. He stood tall. He was slim, but muscular. He was the role model for all the young soldiers.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"There's a shuttle ahead, right, Haute?" Luther said.  
  
"Yes. He'd have to reduce speed drastically," Haute said.  
  
"What if he shot it down?" Green, the other man said.  
  
"He's on a secret mission. He's not going to make himself obvious to us."  
  
Andrew changed his course and allowed the rock casing to shed away. What was left was the Emberglow-Zero's flight-mode, which all the Gundams had been equipped with. The machine gun was strapped to the chest. The legs and arms were folded up. Wings protruded from the back of the thing. And finally, the buster rifle made up the nose.  
  
He began to speed from the carrier when he received a message from Wicks, "That's a TMF carrier. Get rid of it!"  
  
"Roger that, Mission. I'll take care of it."  
  
"Look! The enemy's fighter jet as turned back around!" Haute shouted.  
  
"Is the Ranter ready?"  
  
"Yes, but wouldn't the Dase be more appropriate?"  
  
"Don't worry. My Ranter will be just fine." Luther hopped in the hold of the ship and started up a mobile suit called the Ranter.  
  
It was only a labor suit, but was equipped with a plasma saber and a handgun for other purposes.  
  
Luther hopped out of the hold and looked around. "He's behind!"  
  
Luther fired a shot that missed. As the machine flew by, Luther fired another shot, this time hitting the area between the engines directly.  
  
"Drive system malfunctioning," Andrew said. "He's good." He saw two more suits, both Dases, fly in beside Luther.  
  
Through the frequencies, he heard one say, "We'll take care of him."  
  
Andrew punched in the command code "Shining Star" and activated the ZERO system. He then transformed the jet into its mobile suit form.  
  
"It transformed into a mobile suit!" Luther shouted. I thought only the ESUN and the TMF were able to build mobile suits. Perhaps the reports about the Space Screamers were correct.  
  
"Sir," said one pilot, "let us get him."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
The two pilots took off towards the machine. Both opened fire with the machine guns. Almost every bullet hit its mark, but nothing seemed to happen.  
  
One of the suits began to fire rockets. After taking several hits, the machine spun around. It looked almost angelic, the sun rising behind its head, the earth silhouetting it, its wings spread. "He's intense," Luther commented. "Hmmm…"  
  
"It moved!" one pilot shouted.  
  
"Forget it! Keep firing!" the other retorted.  
  
"Locked on target," Andrew said calmly. The rifle was aimed and fired. Andrew, for a moment, thought he could hear the screams of agony given out by the soldiers.  
  
Andrew looked around, then began to laugh. He stopped abruptly and said, "Just one more…"  
  
"He destroyed two with just a single shot! He's pretty good!" Luther decided to engage the pilot himself.  
  
The two pilots began to fight. Andrew attempted to fire the rifle, but the shot was dodged at the last second. "Who are you?" Luther said.  
  
Andrew made no reply. Luther pulled out a plasma saber and swung it at Andrew. Andrew grabbed that arm, only to have the whole Ranter dropped onto him afterwards. "I'll ask again! Who are you?"  
  
The radio crackled, then the reply, "In a moment, we'll smash into the ocean."  
  
"The force would be like hitting a solid brick wall! We must bail. I will forgive your insolence!" Luther was getting desperate. He knew he had to act fast.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere." Andrew remained calm. He knew the Zero had the strength to survive hitting the water.  
  
"Vermilion, this is Luther! Activate the tracking beams! I want this suit!"  
  
Suddenly, Andrew could feel the Emberglow-Zero being pulled on. "All thrusts are reversed." The suit struggled against the beam and appeared to be winning.  
  
"Stop this immediately!" Luther said.  
  
"No."  
  
Then, for no reason, the Emberglow-Zero stopped working. "Emberglow-Zero?! What are you doing?" Andrew began to hit button sequences in an attempt to get the suit working again.  
  
Then, the suit activated again. But it wasn't Luther or the Vermilion that Andrew saw. It was someone else, coming at him straight on. Out of sheer reflex, Andrew fired the buster rifle.  
  
The beam pierced the man and disintegrated him. But then came an explosion.  
  
The Vermilion had taken a bit of damage from the shot. Smoke trailed from the ship, and Luther could see some flames inside. "Vermilion, damage report!"  
  
"The tractor beam is disabled. The engines can only make about seventy percent capacity."  
  
"Damn!"  
  
Andrew's alarm beeped. His three minutes were up. Damn it, he thought. On a secret frequency he said, "This is Andrew Yuy. Initiate Operation: Meteor now. Move at your own discretion but arrive at the designated point at oh-six-hundred tomorrow morning."  
  
Five confirmations came across the radio. "Boy, answer me!" Luther shouted.  
  
"Thirty seconds!"  
  
"Give me a video confirmation, boy!"  
  
Andrew laughed and said, "You really want it?" Andrew sent a video feed to Luther.  
  
"A baby? The pilot is only a baby?!" Luther shouted. "Are they forcing you into this?"  
  
"Ten."  
  
"Boy!"  
  
"Seven!"  
  
"Don't do this!"  
  
"Three."  
  
"Don't!"  
  
"One."  
  
"Hellfire!" Luther had to bail in order to save his life.  
  
"Until we meet again," Andrew said as he smashed into the brick wall that was the Pacific Ocean. He felt like he had been thrown into a canyon, but was otherwise okay. The systems inside and outside the Emberglow-Zero were perfect.  
  
"Sir, are you alright?" Haute said.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"An ESUN sub is offering to bring up the Gundam."  
  
"Gundam?" Luther couldn't believe it at first. "That's impossible! It can't be a Gundam!"  
  
"That's all it could be, sir."  
  
"We could be in for it," Luther said, the revelation sinking bluntly into his mind.  
  
2 Two hours later  
  
"So you lost two suits, Luther? That's not like you," Colonel Thomason said.  
  
"It was a Gundam, sir."  
  
"You're kidding. So then the Screamers are real. But…no, it can't be."  
  
"What, sir?"  
  
"I was just thinking. The Screamers' objective is to rule the colonies in space, not Earth. Either we have another faction on our hands or the Screamers have some plan. In any case, we must eliminate the ESUN soon, otherwise we could have problems."  
  
"I'll do my best, sir," Luther said as the video link was ended.  
  
"All in due time," Thomason said. "We will do this."  
  
3 Six o'clock A.M. the next day  
  
Andrew docked the Emberglow-Zero at the underwater base. Technicians helped him into the base.  
  
Andrew could barely walk. That's how hungry he was. Two technicians had to carry him to the cafeteria. Andrew slumped into a seat beside Ric, Naomi, Trent, Akia, and Rahmet. "What took you?" Trent asked calmly. "We all arrived about nine last night."  
  
"I had an unexpected run-in with a TMF carrier," Andrew wheezed. "Please, Trent, I need something to eat."  
  
Trent stood and said, "Hold on a second. I'll get you something."  
  
Wicks walked into the room shortly afterwards. Another man was with him.  
  
He stood about five feet tall and had gray hair. A gray moustache and beard covered the man's face. He dressed not too fancily, but was dress up nonetheless. Andrew looked up and fell out of his chair. "That's him!"  
  
Wicks walked over as Andrew was trying to pick himself up. "You don't look so good, son," Wicks said.  
  
"I'm fine," Andrew said. "Just a little tired and hungry."  
  
"I see." Trent walked back then with some food for Andrew he set it down and Andrew began to eat immediately. "Well, now that you're all here, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Gregory McWithar. He helped me with the Gundam designs."  
  
That's the man I saw yesterday! The man I shot! Who is he? Is he an enemy?  
  
Gregory looked around and said, "We have a mission for you. We intercepted a transmission saying that a mobile suit factory in the Mediterranean area is reopening, along with many other bases worldwide. I believe the base is called Corsica. So far, the top training facility is in the Lake Victoria area. We want you to destroy the Corsica factory and Lake Victoria training facility."  
  
Andrew nodded and said, "We accept your mission. We'll move out at oh-four-hundred hours Wednesday morning."  
  
"Agreed," said Gregory.  
  
Tuesday night, Eleven P.M., Undersea Base Freedom  
  
Andrew was walking through the corridors. The others were all asleep, and he knew he should be too. But there was something he had to do.  
  
Andrew headed for the docks. He kept himself as quiet as possible. After some time, he reached the area that he had stored the Emberglow-Zero.  
  
He stared at its bright orange color, attempting to unravel the mysteries. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Gregory said, stepping from the filing room.  
  
"Yeah. Look, I wanna talk to you. We'll pilot these Gundams for you, but first we need to know all the specs and controls. We can't go around playing with buttons using the trial-and-error method I went through."  
  
"I figured one of you would ask that." He handed Andrew a folder. "This is everything you'll need to know, including the activation codes of the ZERO systems."  
  
"Thank you." Andrew walked back to his room with the folder in hand.  
  
Gregory watched him go. "That boy knows too much." 


End file.
